IndianOil wants Petronas assets in Canada
IndianOil is in talks with Petronas for up to 10% in each of three shale gas assets and a LNG project in Canada promoted by Petronas.
IndianOil officials met Petronas President Tan Sri Dato' Shamsul Azhar Abbas in Canada on March 30 where he agreed to include IndianOil in the bidding process. But Abbas warned IndianOil to move fast as the process was at an advanced stage.
Petronas wants partners for shale gas blocks Altares, Lily and Kahta in the North Montney region of Canada. These blocks are owned by Progress Energy Canada - a 100% fully-owned Petronas subsidiary.
Petronas is also looking to sell 10% at its proposed Pacific Northwest LNG liquefaction facility at Lelu Island in British Columbia. IOC must submit a binding offer for stakes in both projects by May 31.
To speed up work IOC has set up a special taskforce of six executives drawn from its business development, gas, E&P and finance departments. IOC's team visited Petronas in Kuala Lumpur in April to hear a presentation on the opportunity.
This month (May) IOC plans to hire technical, financial, tax, accounting and legal consultants at an estimated Rs25cr ($4.6m) to carry out due diligence on both Petronas projects. The $11bn Pacific Northwest LNG Project will initially include two trains or liquefaction plants, each with a 6m t/y capacity, adding up to 12m t/y.
Petronas might later add a third train, taking total capacity to 18m t/y. Petronas expects to commission this project by end-2018.
